Saturday, May 16, 2009

During today's stage 8 of the Giro d'Italia, a Spanish racing cyclist by the name of Pedro Horrilo lost control of his bike on the descent of the Culmine di San Pietro (Summit of St. Peter). The poor man went off the road and feel straight into a ravine. Doctors report he is in an induced coma and on a respirator, with multiple fractured ribs, fractured leg, a broken kneecap, a perforated lung and head trauma. The descent of the Culmine is a very technical one. According to paramedics, he fell more than 60 metres down the ravine before being airlifted by helicopter to a nearby hospital in Bergamo. The summit of St. Peter is a pass at 1258 m altitude in the municipality of Cassina Valsassina. In the past this crossing was used by shepherds in the Val Taleggio to conduct trade relations.

To see an example of what this rider may have faced, here's a video from another race last year.

I'm not terribly thrilled to know that mega bike races such as the Giro, for entertainment purposes or otherwise, have to design courses in such a way that riders face such life threatening situations. Pedro is 6ft tall, and sitting on a big bike like that high above the ground, the railings by the side of the road are too short to offer any protection. This is almost like going to war. There is no guarantee that you'll get back in one piece to your family.

So what is the limit for race organizers? When does it get a little bit too much to bear? Feel free to discuss.

Scott : You don't need a great wall of China. But in a 3 week long race like this, where it is natural for any human to fatigue/lose concentration, you can't expect to place roads like that all over the place?

Ron, that is true. I don't have an answer. Just sayin if you are going to create a truly amzing race for riders and viewers, there will be riaky spots. And if you are going to race, you better know where those spots are and ride accordingly.

That said, it sounds as if vet riders are getting pretty pissed about the abuse of the racers required to take this high of risks.

I think I see the point on the question what is the limit. If they wanted , they could even have the riders go through a road in the jungle full of wild animals, or make a course that is all descent. Hey maybe you could write about optimal course design!

It is dreadful. The chasm between the actual experience and sitting at home watching is enormous and makes understanding and judgement difficult. Hopefully the race organisers will learn from this. I think there were some safety 'nets' placed along the course today - but why not there? As always it's a question of probability: was the accident unlikely to the point that the organisers where right to not make the turn safer, (was it so unlikely that the accident was even more tragic) - or was it too probable. It looks to me, given the fall on the other side, that there should have been a safety net/fence put there. I hope he recovers.

Peter : I guess what I'm trying to get to is having short, dangerous or defective guard rails is as good as having no guard rails at all. Is it too much cost-wise for them to have a better make-shift barrier along the sides of sharp corners so riders don't go over the rails?

If you look at the video you posted, often a wrong move from a rider in front will cause a chain reaction behind. In this case the rider behind was pressured to ride at a comparable speed as the one in front, but when the rider in front breaked hard, the one behind found out its too late. Geez, he almost got impaled there!

Tom, Bike Boy : I'm not a traffic engineer, but look at the guard rail in the picture. It looks solid, old and rusted. I think a better alternative would be to replace that with a low tension cable system that gives on impact, you know..and cushions you from toppling overboard. This way (and if you make it high enough), even if a rider hits it due to an accident, he wouldn't break a bone or get smashed in the groin. Or fall off the road from great heights. You have to consider a better guardrail design for that section of the road. Look at the drop down to the ravine!

The descent was deemed unsafe and too dangerous by many, riders and commentators alike (see Lance's tweet). I agree with Ron's notion that race organisers do have responsibilities for the safety of riders (and spectators) and that this stage might have been the case, where the fine line between creating a sensational and reasonably safe course (yes, racing will always be dangerous but risk can be mitigated) might have been crossed.

I would be disappointed to see the great Giro coarse "dumbed down". I don't like to see riders injured but they have a responsibility to ride to the conditions. My opinion is pull out of the event or don't enter if you think you will not be able to ride the coarse with due care.

The best way to make cycling safe is put everyone on stationary bicycles. Next make the racers wear fall arrest harnesses so they can't fall off there stationary bicycles. Then use a computer to simulate a race.

So, the giro puts up fancy crash protection for the one day the race goes through, and what happens for the rest of the time?

These are not private roads, so normal cyclists & pros out training use them everyday. They may not be racing, but the roads aren't closed & being downhill anybody can go as fast if they don't use their brakes.

Lance has just come back from a broken collar bone, so is rather sensitive at the moment.

If pros were that concerned about safety, they would tighten their helmet straps properly, so they would actually provide some protection in an accident!

Pardon me if I differ from fanatical views, but Lance has been a whiner all this year. From ordering helicopters away on a whim, to sensationalizing his dispute with the French. He needs to man up and be what he was a few years ago. Sorry, but I just can't see him winning any more with this attitude. Live with it, this is bike racing.

It does seem like a net (like they have for skiing) would have been good... or if the UCI hadn't banned disc brakes perhaps the riders would have more chance to stop once they realised they were in trouble... or if they were all on recumbants their COG would be low enough for the barrier to be effective...